Look who’s here! Moment two alpacas pay a surprise visit to care home (and they even ride the lift)
- The two alpacas paid a surprise visit to residents at a care home in Powys, Wales
- Arriving just in time for afternoon tea, the alpacas rode the lift to the top floor
- Residents greeted the woolly well-wishers with plenty of stroking and patting
This is the moment residents at a care home in Wales received a surprise visit from two friendly alpacas.
The woolly well-wishers, who shunned the stairs for a ride in the lift, arrived in time to join residents at The Oaks Care Home in Newtown, Powys, for afternoon tea today.
Footage of the unusual encounter shows the two alpacas being ushered out of the lift, before being led into the lounge, where the Andean animals are lavished with affection by residents.
Two alpacas, named Alex and Bethany, popped in to a care home in Wales today to join residents for afternoon tea. Pictured: Resident Merrill Simcox enjoys a spot of ‘pet therapy’
The alpacas, named Alex and Bethany, were brought into the home to offer residents ‘pet therapy’ – and in exchange the fluffy camelids enjoyed some strokes and pats from their grey-haired audience.
Activities coordinator Izzy Titley said: ‘I’m leaving The Oaks in a few weeks to travel round the world and I wanted to pull some final tricks out of my hat to surprise the residents.
Daniel Hart, 42, a manager at the care home, said the visit was inspired by several residents’ expressed desire to visit a zoo.
Mr Hart said: ‘We thought it would be more fun to bring the animals to them.
Sarah Tickle (left) and Isabelle Titley (right) lead the Andean camelids out of the lift to top-floor residents, who were not told they would be joined by alpacas that afternoon
Resident Sylvia Hughs (right) receives a couple of woolly bedside well-wishers
‘The alpacas were a big hit and it was wonderful to see the look on everyone’s faces when they arrived.’
The Oaks Care Home, part of the Sandstone Care Group, has been able to welcome unlimited visits from friends and family since the end of January, when restrictions were eased.
Following the outbreak of the Omicron variant, visits were limited to three named visitors at a time, plus an essential caregiver – although government guidelines made no specific mention about how the rules should be applied to alpacas.
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